The Times Invader Zim Freaked Me Out

My Top 4 Darkest Moments in Invader Zim

No matter how much I liked it, I won’t deny that Invader Zim has some seriously dark moments. I think I may have suppressed the memory of some of them for the sake of my sanity. I’m Jay, and here are what I consider to be the darkest and weirdest moments on Invader Zim. For the record, pinning this down to a wiggle moment may be hard, since this is Invader Zim. Don’t be surprised if I use the whole episode.

Earworm!

The Piggy, Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy

This, kids, is why you shouldn’t mess with time. In an attempt to get rid of Dib before they ever meet, Zim builds a time machine to send things back in time to kill his nemesis. When the killer robot doesn’t work, Zim resorts to using an arsenal of rubber piggies, to devastating effect. While it works at first, Zim’s plans backfire when Professor Membrane makes Dib a nigh-invincible mech suit that nearly kills Zim.

What made this whole event so disturbing is that Jhonen Vasquez did intend to kill Dib off for good. He even planned on replacing him with a new character. Nickelodeon had to step in and remind the staff of Invader Zim that this was still a kids show, so Dib lived. In the end, Zim undid the events of the episode by telling himself to ever use the time machine. This Dib went back to his normal, harmless self.

Dib’s AI Kills itself, Dibship Rising

When Dib downloads his personality into Tak’s ship, the ship actually thinks it’s Dib. Zim takes advantage of this to take command of the ship to dispose of Dib for good. Fortunately for Dib, he manages to get through to his AI counterpart and regain control. Unfortunately, the memories of Dib’s life are so depressing that the AI erases itself. Basically, it commits suicide.

This may not be as outright disturbing as some of the other things mentioned here, but it’s the most realistic. The implication here is that while he doesn’t outwardly think much of it, the bullying and traumatic experiences Dib’s gone through leave him depressed. If it weren’t for his obsession with the paranormal, Dib may actually kill himself. That’s really disturbing!

As a side note, if you or anyone you know are suffering from depression or thoughts of suicide, seek help. Your life is not worthless.

Keef’s Eyes Get Plucked, Bestest Friends

Remember that episode where Zim got a best friend in the form of Keef? I’m asking because I barely remember it since I had to repress the memory! After realizing that Keef’s too clingy, Zim’s solution is to replace his eyes with robotic ones. The robot eyes then fool Keef into thinking the first thing he sees is Zim.

Of all the moments from Invader Zim, this may be the only one that I was actually scared of as a kid. I mean, I get that being dark is Vasquez’s thing, but come on! This was messed up on all kinds of levels. The fact that it looked like Keef died at the end of the episode made me almost block out the memory altogether. Thank god for my dream-catcher, or I’d have nightmares.

Dark Harvest, Dark Harvest

In order to protect his identity as an alien, Zim decides to steal the organs from every student in the skool. The end result is turning him into a freakishly huge blob monster stuffed with organs. Despite how crazy his plan is, it ends up working. As an added bonus, he makes everyone think Dib’s a freak of nature.

This is the other episode of Invader Zim that I ended up choosing to forget about, for a number of reasons. First, its dark as hell and not something you’d want kids to be seeing. Second, and most importantly, is that I don’t think it aired that often, so I don’t have a good memory of it. This episode is also controversial due to a murderer citing it as inspiration during his trial.

You know, I was going to include a fifth example, but after Dark Harvest, I realize that nothing can top it. If you guys have any other dark moments you remember from the show, let me know. Jay out!

Oh, if you guys didn’t know, Zim has his own comic book series now! Crazy right? You can read it right here on this website!

I think it was because it didn’t nail their target demographic as well as they wanted. They kept shuffling its schedule around, so that cost it in the ratings. Plus, CGI was expensive back then. I know it still is, but I doubt as much.